"You can't arrest your way out of addiction," Lynn Regan said of a solution to the opiate epidemic.
Daniel Regan, a recovering addict who was once a slave to heroin and crystal meth, knows the system all too well.
He's been arrested and through several rehab facilities only to be back out on the street doing the same thing he always did -- get high.
"He was dragged through the system like a freight train," his mother, Lynn, said.
After his fourth stint at a treatment facility, Daniel and Lynn Regan decided to break the vicious cycle by creating their own facility that specializes in long-term treatment options. In 2012, they founded the CFC (Coming Full Circle) Loud N Clear Foundation in Farmingdale, which provides a number of recovery programs tailored to fit each individual addict's needs. Several years later, the group ran a pilot program with the Howell Police Department, which partners trained "recovery coaches" with those addicted to drugs who come face-to-face with law enforcement.
"You can't arrest your way out of addiction," Lynn Regan said in a recent phone interview.
The top law enforcement officer in Monmouth County agrees.
It's why the county's prosecutor, Christopher Gramiccioni, says he created the "Cuffs to Beds" initiative in 2017. The program provides people arrested with certain drug offenses a path that helps them avoid the justice system by getting treatment.
As the heroin and opioid epidemic continues to sweep through New Jersey, law enforcement agencies across the state are finding new ways to fight the problem. In Ocean County, for example, the county offers the "Blue Hart (Heroin Addiction Recovery Treatment) Program," which allows drug addicts to enter several police departments in the county and turn in their drugs in exchange for help. The West Orange Police Department in Essex County offers a similar program.
And earlier this month, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced $1 million in federal grant funding to help expand his "Operation Helping Hand" program to help bridge the gap between law enforcement and recovery options for "individuals at risk for drug overdoses."
Monmouth County has been one of the hardest hit in the Garden State when it comes to drug-related overdoses. In 2017, the county had 151 overdose deaths, nearly four times the number of highway fatalities. The county is likely to exceed that number in 2018.
Under the Cuffs to Beds umbrella, Gramiccioni has signed on police chiefs in 10 of the 42 departments in the county, including the county's largest, Middletown.
Each department is free to implement its own program, but they must work with an organization that provides recovery coaches, a recovering addict with at least one year of sobriety who is trained to voluntarily help another addict navigate the treatment system.
Gramiccioni said he provides the police chiefs with options and they pick the organization that fits their individual needs. Deputy First Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Michael Wojciechowski keeps tabs on all the cases with the individual departments.
Ask Alexa
Some departments, like Hazlet, will file charges right away and once the defendant completes treatment, will dismiss those charges. Other departments, such as Belmar, will shelve the charges and use them as an extra incentive to get those individuals successfully through treatment.
"These (police chiefs) all get credit for looking forward and not backward," Gramiccioni said.
He said between 55 to 65 percent of those reached under the Cuffs to Beds initiative have accepted some form of treatment.
"If you think of what we did before, these people would just get released or just leave a scene after being revived (from an overdose), maybe every once in a while they get taken to a hospital and then they're back out using with the same friends and having the same addiction problems that they were having before," he explained. "I'll take the double instead of the home run."
The program is mainly for people addicted to drugs who have non-violent drug possession charges, Gramiccioni said. Some shoplifting cases, where it's clear the motive was to fuel a drug habit, can also qualify, he said.
But those charged with second-degree offenses or cases where there are victims most likely won't get the opportunity, Gramiccioni explained.
In Belmar, police Chief Andrew Huisman said his program has successfully gotten 57 people to complete treatment since he launched it in 2017.
Belmar police Chief Andrew Huisman. (Alex Napoliello | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
"We had no choice but to take some type of action," Huisman said. "Back in the fall of 2016, it was clear we weren't arresting our way out of anything. We were arresting the same people over and over again."
The police chief in Howell, Andrew Kudrick, said he was being "hit left and right with overdoses" when he took over the department in 2015. The problem, he said, came to a head when one of his officers who was responding to an overdose call got into a car crash with another person who was under the influence. Soon afterward, he connected with CFC to enlist the help of recovery coaches.
Now, Kudrick said, "whenever there is an overdose, police, fire and EMS get dispatched to it and a recovery specialist is dispatched to the scene. We want to capture them when they're at their most vulnerable."
Law enforcement officials conceded that, while they are great at maintaining the law and public safety in their towns, they are not as effective as someone who's been through addiction and is trained to help another addict.
The proof is in the numbers, Regan said. Seventy-one percent of people referred to CFC by police since 2016 have agreed to seek treatment.
Once those with addictions are detoxed, Regan said, they are invited to continue to seek recovery with CFC's five-year program. Most of the individual's expenses are covered by insurance, and if the person doesn't have insurance, the recovery coach will help get them into a facility that accepts people who don't have insurance.
The goal, she said, is to get those suffering from addiction into long-term treatment to break the cycle of addiction.
"You hit a lot of walls because of the traditional system," Regan said. "It's very difficult for police departments. There are so many regulations, certifications and laws that say you can't go outside of this little sandbox. ... It's very hard to break that mold."
Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips